Mobile Lorm Glove helps the deaf and the blind to use cellphones with ease

Mobile phones have become quintessential to the modern lifestyle but for the deaf and blind using a mobile phone doesn’t come that easy. However, the Mobile Lorm Glove created by designers Gesche Joost, Ulrike Gollner and Tom Bieling from Design Research Lab allows the deaf and blind to use mobile technology to connect with other cellphone users and communicate with regular people.

A tactile signing language called Lorm which is used by people with hearing as well as sight impairment is used in the glove. The lower end of the glove is fitted with pressure sensors that can decipher Lorm sign language in text and speech that can be used to send messages over a mobile phone. These visual and audible messages would be supplemented by audio and visual input in the future though for now, the glove can allow the deaf and blind to “read” or “hear” messages received by the mobile phone that is translated by multiple vibration motors at the back of the glove.

These tactile feedback patterns allow the user to send and receive messages discreetly and liberate them from having to rely entirely on audio feedback when using a cellphone. The Lorm Glove allows the deaf and blind to engage and communicate with the sighted and hearing world with confidence.